. >> the first major vote will come friday when the house takes up part of the superstorm sandy relief package. also today the house voted to retain john boehner as speaker of the house. >>> critics call grover norquist the single biggest impediment to a budget deal. you might think he'd be lying low as some of his allies passed a $666 billion tax increase, but bruce leshan reports norquist is keeping anything but quiet. >> no. i'm disappointed that we weren't able to continue all of the 2001, 2003 tax cuts. >> reporter: grover norquist's days are filled with media interviews and he's putting his best spin on the first republican vote to raise taxes in 22 years. >> they were scheduled to go higher if congress hadn't acted. they were scheduled to go higher on everybody. >> reporter: 238 members of the house and 41 senators have signed norquist's pledge never to raise tax rates on anyone and he insists the new year's day vote did not break that promise. >> so on december 31st they would have broken the pledge. at the stroke of midnight they're no longer breaking the pledge. >> no. there